Ronnie Scott's Charitable Foundation

The Ronnie Scott's Charitable Foundation is inviting applications for grants to support music education projects for children and young people

Organisations which are running or developing jazz education projects are being invited to apply for grants from the Ronnie Scott's Charitable Foundation.

Projects can be based in the UK or overseas and should meet the foundation's aim of ensuring "...that music education is accessible to every child and young person, especially those who are under-privileged, by raising and distributing funds and gifting musical instruments to organisations that create or develop youth jazz programmes".

Ronnie Scott's announced its non-profit charitable foundation in December 2015. Its fundraising strategy has been more successful than it had hoped and after giving financial support to 11 projects to date it is now actively seeking new projects which it can help.

To date the foundation has awarded grants to projects that include London-based Young & Gifted, The York Music Service, the Doncaster Youth Jazz Association and NYJO who between them have provided dozens of young musicians with tutors, rehearsal space and the chance to collaborate through music workshops. In June, jazz musician and educator Pete Letanka will introduce jazz to children aged 7-11 from the Soho Parish School with the help of drummer Billy Cobham. The foundation supports In Place of War, an organisation which helps to empower creative communities in places of conflict and revolution by providing cultural skills training and exchanges – the foundation will shortly be sending them a mixing desk for a space within a Soweto township that is developing a thriving jazz community.

The foundation also runs its own in-house programmes. The monthly Big Band In A Day invites young musicians from across the UK to learn, in just one day, some of the core skills of big band performance culminating in a live performance on the Ronnie Scott’s stage. Its Music Instrument Amnesty collects unused instruments and donates them to school-age children in the UK and overseas.

The foundation raises funds through a variety of mechanisms – voluntary contributions from its patrons, profits from the sale of its popular cocktail, The Champagne Socialist and an annual charity fund raiser event.

Young & Gifted said “We are very grateful to the Ronnie Scott’s Charitable Foundation for supporting our project. We received multiple emails expressing gratitude for organizing something free of charge in a situation where schools are facing cuts in arts education leaving children with fewer chances to have music lessons or perform in public".